Of a Silver Lining
by miriui
Summary: AU. "Look, you can't stay trapped in that shell of yours forever. I'll show you that there's a silver lining to every cloud. And I'll prove to you... there's more than meets the eye. I promise." Sokai.


**A/N:** Hi everyone! As you may or may not know, I'm miriui, mainly artist and hobbyist fanfic author. I'd recently gone on hiatus for a while, due to lack of motivation in writing fanfics due to personal issues and etc. However, I'm back and moving on from Pokemon fanfics to write Kingdom Hearts fanfics instead, as this is what I have interest for at the moment.

Now, before I get onto disclaimers or anything of the sorts, I'd like to point out that I am a _hobbyist_ fanfic author, meaning I do not focus my time on writing. This often results in long hiatuses, multiple updates at a time, or discontinuing a story due to lack of motivation.

In any case, I hope you enjoy the following material!

 **Disclaimer:** _As much as I'd love to, I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and/or anything else I reference. I just own the story idea and whatever OCs I may use._

 **Edit:** I had to repost this since the first post didn't turn out the way I would've liked it to, and there are major changes.

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 **OF A SILVER LINING**

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 _-_ _ **one**_ _-_

 _"A new beginning is ready to be written, and the lines of fate are in your hands."_

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"Oh my _god_! Estheim Academy!" squealed the girl standing beside Kairi, her excitement unable to be contained.

She made her way through the school gates and gazed at the sight. "Ohh, it's just as amazing as I imagined it! It's like a dream come true... I can't believe we traveled all the way from Destiny Islands to get here. And the entrance exam wasn't all that easy either… ohh, our dream school, Kai! Can you believe it?"

Kairi rolled her eyes, dragging her suitcase along with her. "Yeah, sure, Selphie." she replied monotonously.

Said female turned to face her so called best friend -Selphie Tilmitt at that- as she placed her hand to her hip. "Don't start with the sarcasm now, _Ka-i-ri_." she said, holding out the syllables of her name.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just not as excited as you are."

Estheim Academy. The world renowned boarding school everyone aspired to attend. It secured its place as one of the top 10 high schools in a short span of 10 years at most. And today, Kairi Hart would be attending said school.

Only the best of the best who applied could get in, and only a few were provided with scholarships. Entry forms required you to fill in a resume of your grades, skills, talents achievements, etc. Although the school could accept a little over a thousand students, they always reached over capacity in entries. Thus they would have to weed out the runts.

But it was worth the effort in the end. The school happened to be filled with the latest technology, courtesy of Caelum Corporations, or for short, C.C. Located at the outskirts of New Twilight, the school is located in a private area secured by said company. It was built with modern architecture to appear almost as a futuristic castle. Even with how advanced the school is, the area is surrounded by lush nature, dim lamps, and most importantly, space.

A subway built specifically for Estheim Academy students allowed students to head into downtown New Twilight when they pleased. Of course, they had a curfew, the building and facilities would automatically lock down at midnight, so students were expected to be responsible for themselves. If the bustling city weren't to their tastes, there was always Twilight Town, only a few blocks away.

Selphie huffed as she entered the school building. "How can you not be excited? Kairi, this is _Estheim Academy_ , one of the top 10 schools worldwide!" she asked incredulously.

Kairi only shrugged. "Well, I never said I wasn't excited, I just said I wasn't _as_ excited as _you_ are."

"Meaning you're not excited." she stated knowingly, walking up to the large counter to pick up her room key from the late night shift assistant.

"Welcome to Estheim Academy!" the assistant greeted with a smile. "Are you new students?"

"Yeah, we are! My name is Selphie Tilmitt." she said.

Kairi followed suit. "I'm… Kairi Hart."

The assistant typed up their names on what seemed to be the latest model of the Academia computers. "Ah, yes! Kairi Hart and Selphie Tilmitt, both to be grade 11 juniors."

She handed both Selphie and Kairi a card key. "These card keys will be your access codes into any of our facilities, as well as your subway passes, student cards, entrance into the school and your respective dorms. In addition, you may click the button on the top right hand corner for a map of the campus, facilities, and schedule. These cards are very important, so be sure not to lose them. If anything strange happens with your cards, be sure to bring them back to us for maintenance!"

"Alright, thank you very much!" Selphie smiled at the assistant before activating her map and dragging her rather large suitcase away.

"Yeah, thank you." Kairi mumbled before following Selphie. She caught up quickly before the brunette resumed their previous conversation.

"I know we might seem like outsiders, Kai! I mean, we weren't here as sophomores, so everyone's already acquainted. But that doesn't mean we can't get along with them! And isn't it fun to meet new people?" Then she sighed dreamily. "Imagine all the hot guys..."

" _Selphie_."

The brunette laughed a bit. "Sorry, sorry. But this would be a good opportunity for you. Take advantage of it." she advised before coming to a fork in the academy hallway. "Well, I'm heading to the west wing."

Kairi activated her own map and scrolled through the contents. "I think I'm in the east wing…" she muttered.

"Then this is where we split! Ohh, I'm going to miss you! We're going on shopping sprees once a month, alright?" said Selphie, putting a hand on her hip. "You better come."

Kairi managed a small smile. "Not like I had a choice."

"And I hope you'll end up with a girl in your room! You don't have experience with guys, and let me tell you, looks are deceiving."

Rolling her eyes, Kairi retorted, "Says the one who fawns over any hot guy she lays eyes on."

Selphie put a hand to her cheek and batted the air with her other. "Who could blame me?" she asked cheekily. "Remember, I'm always a text away." After giving Kairi a small hug, she turned away with a wave. "See you in class! Hopefully."

Kairi gave a slight nod. "Hopefully."

An elevator ride to the third floor, a right turn and a left later, the redhead found her room at the furthest end of the hallway. "Room 372" was engraved in a fake gold plaque above the door. It was definitely her room.

Calming her nerves and taking a deep breath, she mustered the courage she needed to knock on the door. It was only polite to anyhow. She twiddled her thumbs in anticipation and rocked on the heels of her feet. A good half minute later, nobody had responded. Kairi frowned a bit before taking out her card key and sliding it through the scanner.

As it flashed green, the handle clicked and she let herself in. "Excuse me..." she mumbled as she tugged her suitcase through the door.

"God dammit, you're an impatient one-"

She could hear footsteps and in moments, she was greeted by an unfamiliar face. A young teenager standing about half a head taller than her stood in place as he ran his fingers through his spiky brown hair. "And you woke me up too... I was taking a nap here!" he grumbled as his other hand tiredly rubbed his eyes.

At least he was fully clothed, she thought. "I... um..." Too bad Kairi couldn't form proper words. She sounded like a fool and she knew it. She attempted a subtle cough to clear her throat, only to fail. "I- I'm Kairi Hart." Good start, she told herself. She was at least talking to someone other than Selphie.

The brunet blinked his eyes a few times, as if he were trying to clear his vision. Then his eyes lit up. "Oh! You're my roommate, aren't you?" He stepped out of the way. "Come in, make yourself at home! Take a seat, do you want water? Juice? Anything?"

Kairi did as he said, with the exception of getting comfortable just yet. She stepped into the open living room and took a seat on the couch. "Water is fine, thank you." Kairi said as confidently as she could manage.

As he went and fetched her a glass of water, Kairi took the time to admire her living accommodations. It was styled like a loft, providing two floors for the dorm. On the far end was a large glass window that spread out for the entirety of that wall, leading to a small terrace from what she could see. The ceiling was high and the second floor only took up half the size of the first, allowing one to glance around the main floor from the second. From the door, the living room was situated on the right and the kitchen and dining room on the left. Stairs leading up to the second floor were on the left side as well. There were a few doors around, most likely leading to a washroom and laundry room. Despite just having moved in, the dorm seemed to be decorated fairly nicely with modern furniture. Though... it was a tad messy.

"Don't mind the mess," said the male as he came back with Kairi's drink. "I didn't expect you to come yet! Even though school starts tomorrow..." he added sheepishly before continuing. "I'm Sora Strife. Junior. Nice to meet you!"

"Ah- I'm Kairi." she repeated for a second time, taking the glass from him. "Kairi Hart. I'm a junior as well."

Sora pondered a bit before smirking a bit. "Oh, so you're _new_ , aren't you?" he asked with a slight teasing tone. "Hadn't seen you around before, but maybe it's 'cuz you're so shy."

She choked a bit. "I am _not_ shy." she insisted after gulping down her water, resisting the urge to growl at her roommate.

He only laughed. "Could've fooled me. Come on, I'll show you your room. I'll give you a hand with your stuff." Picking up her suitcase, he headed up the stairs. She followed, not before putting down the empty glass on the coffee table.

Albeit being smaller than the first floor, it was still big enough to fit in two bedrooms. Sora walked down the corridor and opened a door. "So, this is your room! My room is right across from yours."

Kairi walked inside, staring in awe. Her room wasn't small, nor was it big. But it was comfortable enough to stay in, for sure. There was a twin sized bed, a nightstand with a standard alarm, a work desk, a cabinet, a bookshelf, a small walk-in closet and her own personal bathroom. On the east wall from the door, it was reinforced with glass with midnight blue curtains at the ends.

"So how's this for a room?" asked Sora, leaning on the door frame after placing her suitcase by her bed. "It's only 100 munny per month, a pretty good deal, if I say so myself."

"You don't pay for dorms." deadpanned Kairi as she walked towards the curtains. "But I'll take it." Pulling them together, she turned to face Sora. "Uh. Nice to meet you. I hope you'll bear with me."

He smiled. "Same here, Kairi."

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 **This concludes the first chapter of "Of a Silver Lining"! I apologize in advance for any errors. If you'd like, please a review of your thoughts! Thank you for reading!**


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